Leeds United: Someone with '˜deep pockets' is needed to turn around fortunes - Whelan

LEEDS United's chances against Middlesbrough this evening depend on how they go about their jobs.
Lewis CookLewis Cook
Lewis Cook

We know with Boro what they have got. They are very solid through the middle, they are very solid at the back and they have conceded only 16 goals this season.

We know that they are very hard to break down, that they are very compact as a side and we’ve got to do a lot better than we did last week against Notts Forest.

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They’ve got to have the creativity and the know-how to break them down and desire and tempo of our game to really take the game to a team like Middlesbrough.

In terms of who I think could unlock Middlesbrough, I would have said Mustapha Carayol but he’s ineligible to play. He’s Middlesbrough’s player.

He’s one player that I thought would have made a difference last week against Forest, if he’d started.

The emergency loan window is now open, but it all depends on what sort of player you can actually bring in now. If we can’t get them to buy, what’s he going to get on loan?!

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It’s not something where I can see quality coming in to make a difference.

It would be nice if there was a bit of quality out there to bring in and bolster the side. That would be fantastic.

But if not, I think they have just to work on what they have got and improve what you have got and try and get that winning mentality and desire to finish the season strongly.

We’ve got to work on scoring goals as we don’t score enough goals and that’s our problem.

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The thing is, are we safe? I don’t think we can say we are safe – that league is too tough. We can’t say we are safe until mathematically we can’t be caught and we know we are not going to be in the relegation zone. We’ve got Middlesbrough and then the Watford game in the FA Cup and then we’ve got Fulham who had a great win on Saturday.

These are all tough games and so I don’t think we can ever write off that we might be in and around it again and people thinking about this relegation.

Until we start bucking our ideas up and start playing to our maximum ability, then we might always be verging and just hanging around that relegation zone because the other week I didn’t see enough there to suggest we could be out of it just yet.

We’ve seen more protests against Massimo Cellino through the poster at Elland Road this week and there’s always going to be a cloud hanging over the club now with what’s happened, with where the club’s at and the with the chairman. It’s down to the chairman to turn these posters and negatives into positives by doing something positive with the club and with the players.

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I know he has cut wage bills et cetera and that’s fantastic, but he did say he had a two-year plan for the Premiership and I don’t see that we’re any further forward.

I think that’s frustrating because I don’t think the fans believe it.

With the Sky dispute, if you are going to look at one game that has gone against you, look at the Brighton game, which to me is ridiculous.

They have got to be a little bit more considerate to the fans because it’s not like they are moving it half-an-hour down the road.

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For a Saturday game, people have booked tickets, booked flights, booked hotels and I’m absolutely flabbergasted that that has been a game that has been changed. It really is ridiculous. It’s becoming a little bit unfair now on the fans, and I feel for them

But through it all we always stick together at Leeds. The frustration now is that we are stuck between a rock and a hard place and we desperately want somebody to come in and give this club and the fans what they deserve.

It’s just frustrating for us to see all this, to see it happening at such a big club with such a massive fan base, with such history and potential.

It’s all about the potential – what really possibly could be.

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It just needs somebody to realise and see that, and it’s going to take somebody with deep, deep pockets.

But if anyone out there has got deep, deep pockets then you are getting such an amazing club with amazing fans. It could be something special again.